UK's Prince Charles takes first "Tube" trip since 1986

LONDON

Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, travel on a Metropolitan line tube train from Farringdon station to King's Cross station, as they mark 150 years of the London Underground January 30, 2013.

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Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (partially obscured), pass through a ticket barrier before they board a Metropolitan line tube train from Farringdon station to King's Cross station, as they mark 150 years of the London Underground January...

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Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, travel on a Metropolitan line tube train from Farringdon station to King's Cross station, as they mark 150 years of the London Underground January 30, 2013.

Reuters/Chris Jackson/pool

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Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, speak with staff before travelling on a Metropolitan line tube train from Farringdon station to King's Cross station, as they mark 150 years of the London Underground January 30, 2013.

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Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall study a model of the refurbished King's Cross rail station, during a visit to the terminal in central London January 30, 2013.

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LONDON Four million Londoners cram onto the city's Underground passenger railway nearly every day, but it is a rarer event for Prince Charles. He rode the British capital's bustling commuter network on Wednesday for the first time since 1986.

The heir to the British throne and his wife Camilla took a one-stop journey from Farringdon to King's Cross on the Metropolitan Line as part of celebrations to mark the 150th anniversary of a transport service affectionately known to Britons as the "Tube".

The short journey was a rare enough event to cause some confusion at the prince's press office, which initially said he had last ventured onto the Tube in 1979.

"This is just to let you know that it has come to our attention that The Prince of Wales has travelled on the London Underground more recently than 1979. In 1986 The Prince and Princess of Wales travelled by tube to Heathrow Airport to open Terminal 4," a spokeswoman said in an email to media.

"We're sorry that our previous information was incorrect. Our archives of Royal engagements prior to 1988 are not computerized and in this particular instance a search under 'The Prince of Wales takes the Tube' did not bring up an event which had been logged as the 'official opening of Terminal 4'."